Kumho Tire has been awarded an original equipment supply deal for the all-new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The manufacturer will supply its Solus KS21 UHP tyre in sizes 265/60R18 or 265/50R20 for versions of this new Jeep destined for markets outside of North America, and in doing so Kumho expects to “generate an even stronger momentum in its pursuit of overseas markets.”
Kumho has created an all-new control tyre for the 2011 Formula 3 Euro Series. The final specification of the new tyre resulted from two days of comprehensive evaluation at the renowned Vallelunga circuit in Italy. It will be made available to the teams from the first official test session onwards.
Kumho supplied four different specifications of tyre for the 900 kilometres carried out by Dutch F3 driver Renger van der Zande – two completely new designs and two new compounds – each of which was compared with the 2010 specification covers. “The chosen tyre is incredibly good,” van der Zande commented adding: “The performance for fast qualifying laps and race pace consistency are equally remarkable.”
Having friends in high places can sometimes prove a definite advantage, as Kumho Tyres recently noted when organising a ‘Dream Day’ for children and their parents/carers. The 40 children, selected in competitions or from Manchester’s Francis House Children’s Hospice, recently spent the day honing their skills with a bunch of football players – but not just any players, mind you. Making full use of the benefits from its official sponsorship of Manchester United Football Club, Kumho Tyres arranged for the lucky 40 to spend the day at Old Trafford and Manchester United’s Carrington training ground with no less than five of the club’s first team players.
Micheldever Tyre Services recently appointed Neil Schmid as its new Kumho brand manager. Having been with Micheldever for 15 years, Schmid has most recently worked as an area sales manager in the South West and will now take on the additional responsibility of marketing and developing the Kumho brand across the UK. According to the company, he has a wealth of experience in the tyre industry, having started work in his father’s garage at the age of 14. Neil Schmid has since worked in various different areas of the industry providing him with experience in fitting, fleet, retail and wholesale.
Kumho has been the official tyre supplier to the Formula Three Euro Series since 2003. The newly-crowned 2010 Euro F3 champion on Kumho’s slicks is Edoardo Mortara. He contested the series previously in 2008, then had a year in GP2 before returning to F3 this year. He holds duel Italian and French nationality but races under the Italian flag and is responsible for two firsts for the series: the first victory for the French Signature team and the first for a VW-engined car. As official supplier, Kumho makes some 10,000 tyres available to the series per annum.
Kumho reports that it enjoyed 4mins and 35secs of exposure during the BBC’s recent Korean Grand Prix coverage. Not in relation to F1, but through footage of the recent rally success of the show’s ebullient anchorman, Jake Humphrey, and long-standing Kumho-sponsored rally driver and Sky TV pundit, Tony Jardine.
The event, the Cambrian Rally, was Humphrey’s first ever rally and he took to the sport sufficiently quickly to guide the Ford-Fiesta-mounted pair to an impressive second in class. Running on Kumho rally tyres, their Fiesta was suitably adorned with Kumho stickers, while Kumho logos were clearly visible on the crew’s overalls. The team’s exploit’s also received a good airing in The Sun newspaper, which was another of their sponsors.
Kumho Asiana Group has re-appointed its former chairman Park Sam-koo. The Korea Herald reported that Park’s comeback was agreed amidst refinancing negotiations between the Group and the Korea Development Bank, its main creditor. Park Chan-bup stepped down from the chairmanship two months ago, and Park Sam-koo’s appointment will allow greater concentration on restructuring measures, which company officials told the paper would improve operational earnings.
Reports out of Seoul, South Korea say that the country’s financial regulators have approved a deal where Korea Development Bank will acquire controlling interest in Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. from Kumho. The transaction for a nearly 40 per cent share of the construction firm was put at $2.93 billion. There was no word when the deal might close. (Tire Review)
It is already heavily involved in the UK and throughout Europe with football – the real football, the one where ball contact is made using the feet – and now Kumho Tires has extended its sports sponsorship activities to the American equivalent. In announcing the sponsorship of five gridiron teams in the US, the tyre maker says it has chosen a target for its sports marketing “renowned as American as apple pie” to make inroads into North American area.
For the sixth consecutive year, the Korea Management Association has ranked Kumho Tires top in the passenger car tyre category of its Korea Customer Satisfaction Index (KCSI) survey. The index is calculated based on customer evaluations of a number of variables, including overall satisfaction, factor satisfaction and repurchase intent. Kumho Tires’ score of 67.7 secured it first place, and the tyre maker highlights that its score in the repurchase intention category was 11.1 per cent higher than any competing company – evidence, Kumho says, of a “green light” for expanding domestic market share.
Kumho Tire USA said it will increase pricing on all products in the US by up to 6.5 per cent. The increase, effective November 1, will include in-line adjustments. Kumho joins Hankook, Goodyear, Pirelli and Cooper, which have recently announced price hikes.
Kumho Tire is betting that its new advertising campaign will help improve its image among consumers in South Korea. Thus far, the company said, the new softer, non-product focused ads have received positive reaction from consumers and the market.
As part of what it calls a “growing commitment to the Australian market”, Kumho Tyre Australia has opened a new AU$10 million (£5.9 million) purpose built distribution centre in Western Sydney. The company states the 5,000 square metre warehouse operation, which can hold up to 100,000 tyres, will greatly enhance the company's efficiency and ability to service the growing number of Kumho retailers.
On September 1 the management and staff of Kumho Tire Inc., along with important customers and partners, celebrated the company’s fiftieth anniversary at its headquarters in Seoul and its parent facility in Gwangju. “We look back with pride over the past fifty years and the successful development of Kumho Tires and based upon this look positively towards the future and the and the successful accomplishment of the next fifty years,” Kumho Tires CEO stated Kim Jong-Ho during the celebrations at the Gwangju facility. He thanked all employees for their loyalty to Kumho Tires during both good and bad times.
On September 2, Kumho Tires celebrated its 50th anniversary in South Korea with the launch of a new product, the Majesty Solus. Some 200 guests attended a ceremony at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul to mark both the milestone and the new tyre’s release.
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